I immediately asked my mother to get me through to Bella. My girlfriend of three years.
Bella was the boldest and prettiest person I had ever met in my lifetime.
Her long dark hair, light skin tone, gorgeous face, full lips, and graceful figure... they were all to die for.
I was truly blessed to have such a gorgeous girlfriend, but her personality was a bit different from normal.
She was scary, and no one dared mess with her back when we were in university. I had gotten bullied as a freshman one time by a bunch of seniors after winning a quiz competition against them.
She stepped into the scene and whooped all of their asses with the heels she had been wearing at the time. They all had bruises and injuries all over their bodies by the time she was done.
Usually, such a thing would lead to rustication, but Bella's family had some influence, so she wasn't even reprimanded in the slightest.
We became friends... or rather, it was more accurate to say she followed me everywhere and everyone else kept their distance.
She was mean to everyone else but extremely nice to me.
"You've been marked," Bolaji would always tell me with a look of pity, but I ignored him.
Then, one day...
"I like you, be my boyfriend."
My eyes widened, and I had a look of shock, which left me silent for a couple of seconds after Bella proposed to me three years ago.
"Huh?"
"You are now my boyfriend."
"Eh????"
...And that was it, from that day I became her boyfriend without even saying yes.
I was a bit scared at the time, but everything turned out great. We would go everywhere and do almost everything together.
I loved her with everything in my existence and wish to make her my wife in the near future, but now that the earth was undergoing a crisis, there was no telling if there would even be a future to look forward to.
Bella had a couple of titles in multiple martial arts, but I was still worried even though she was capable of defending herself.
I'm not sure I can live on if she turned into one of the infected.
"Victor!" She screamed as soon as she picked up my call.
"Are you okay?"
A cheeky and uncontrollable smile appeared on my face. I could feel her love through the phone.
I truly love this woman...
"I'm alright, what about you?"
"We are fine... for now," She responded.
"I was worried you were in trouble... I'm glad you're okay," She added.
"Same here, baby, same here," I heaved another sigh of relief.
"Everyone here is scared, but I think it's just one of those bad days. It will clear over soon, and we will continue with our lives," Bella voiced through the phone.
"I'm not so sure about that, but I hope so," I replied.
"These things... I'll decimate them if they come near you," Bella stated firmly.
"Aye aye my warrior angel," I replied with a light chuckle.
I wasn't surprised about her calmness despite the current predicament and how she wasn't scared in the slightest. She was Bella, after all.
"Bolaji's family is also here. The house is big enough for all of us," Bella informed.
"I'm so glad you are all in one spot, and thank you for sheltering them... Bella, tell me. What did the news say?" I inquired.
She mentioned how there hadn't been much information revealed since the government hadn't come out to give an official statement.
However, the news mentioned an outbreak of toxic gas that came from outside the earth's atmosphere and how a city's population had been completely turned into monsters from it.
One of the infected broke into our city, and that was how this whole incident began.
'It truly happening like one of those Zombie animes,' I grumbled internally not realizing things were about to get way worse in the future considering the toxic gas was capable of doing more than just creating Zombie like infected.
After the brief info, Bella said she had to go since her father was calling for her.
"Bolaji and I will try to get to you as soon as we can so we can all be together." I voiced and pictured her nodding.
When the call ended, I stared at the others.
Some had expressions of satisfaction while some looked extremely worried since they still couldn't contact their families.
I reached for one of the storage boxes and placed it on one of the center tables. Mr Timmy's eyes widened at the flagrant act of disobedience, and before he could talk, I spoke up first.
"We are Mechanics. We know what we are doing, but if we keep waiting, we just might die here... we will need—"
"It's a fortified soundproof room. Surely they can't get in," someone else spoke up, cutting me off.
"Also, the military is on their way," Mr Timmy repeated.
"We really don't have to take any unnecessary action. If we wait till a certain period, they will come for us."
Waiting was was an ideal decision in their heads, but not in mine.
I wanted to get out. I needed to get to my family.
I stared at Bolaji, who was frowning at Mr Timmy, but changed his facial expression as soon as his eyes met mine.
We didn't need to say a word before we both decided on the same course of action.
While it was true that the government were most likely going to send help, I didn't intend to wait until their arrival.
I needed to be with my family.
There was another reason why I believed staying here couldn't be a long-term plan. I was about to mention the reason when someone interrupted me.
-"Just leave those things alone and stay put!"
"Sir, with all due respect, as much as staying here is a good option, it will get worse if there's nothing to survive on. Do you think you can stay here for so long without basic necessities? What happens when the waiting duration goes on for days? What happens when you need food and water?" I turned to the rest, hoping they understood my point.
"Isn't it better to go out there to—"
"I don't want to die out there," another one of them stated.
And with that...
It was final. Bolaji and I were the only ones who wanted to leave.
....
With determination and partial deafness to Mr Timmy's complaints, I tore into some of the boxes before me.
"I will make sure you two suffer backlashes for this! One month suspension! No! Four months without pay!" He yelled.
We ignored him.
I had a feeling we weren't going to see anything new in the packages.
Bolaji also helped, and the packages finally revealed their contents, which confirmed my thoughts.
Fortunately, the items within were better than scraps since they looked like built parts.
The several pieces of metal scattered inside were fragmented parts used to create a battle QUAX arm.
But these fragments wouldn't be enough to create a fully functional Battle QUAX so Bolaji and I went to check the rest.
The others didn't bother to help, and we didn't ask them either. I guessed Mr. Timmy's watchful glare kept them still.
When we checked other boxes, I was surprised to see more metals of similar crafting.
It was only after searching for over ten minutes that we found boxes with the other contents.
We finally had enough parts to make a battle QUAX arms.
"We can do this," Bolaji stated and I nodded in response.
Bolaji and I pretended as we focused on working the parts.
First, we carefully studied each piece and analyzed the shape and size of each part and how they fit together.
"That's the energy-gathering ray,"
"It goes below the thumb and index finger area..."
"The quantum field generator... "
"The ammunition calibers..."
We began to connect the pieces and reshape some to the required form.
After a few hours, we were finally able to create a silver-coloured robotic-looking arm.
Since there were two of us, we worked on creating another. After some time, we had two functional battle QUAX arms.
It took us a couple of hours, but it paid off.
We placed our arms in them and powered them up. The silver-coloured robotic arm came to life, and I tested its range of motion. I was able to feel the strength in its grip and marvelled at how amazing it felt.
Though we had never used one before in a battle, we had tested it long ago when we had been part of the team working on the battle QUAXs, so we both had a clue on how to use them.
After wearing the robotic battle QUAX arm like they were sleeves, Bolaji and I were ready to leave.
I glanced at the others, hoping someone would change their mind, but they all huddled into groups and stared at us as though we were mad.
"If you plan to leave, you can work on completing a battle QUAX arm, I'm sure it will help," I advised.
Mr Timmy scoffed. "You don't need to worry. The military will get here soon, and you will see that all this was a total waste of time."
I didn't say anything more. They had made their choice, and we had made ours. When we were ready, we looked into the CCTV monitors to have a clue as to what lay before us.
Fortunately, the number of infected in the hallways had decreased, and I could only count eleven who were still shambling around.
If I took down six and Bolaji handled the rest, we would have some time to spare before encountering another horde.
"You ready?" I asked him.
"Let's do this."
With that in mind, we set forth to the door. Mr Timmy's keycard was in my hands, and since he didn't say a thing, I figured he didn't remember that his keycard was gone.
I also didn't think they would need it since they were all employees and surely had an extra with them.
I proceeded to swipe the card, causing the doors to slide open.
The moment we stepped out, I charged forward with my arm outstretched.